'The Prisoner,' '24' and 'Watchmen' all in Everyday Hero headlines

It's time for a Finally Friday edition of Everyday Hero, your daily roundup of handpicked fanboy headlines from across the fanboy universe...

"THE PRISONER," BACK IN CUSTODY: The best news you'll read today comes to us from Maria Elena Fernandez, the Los Angeles Times television reporter who is covering the Television Critics Assn. tour events here this week. Fernandez reports that "The Prisoner," that strange classic of British television, is being revived by some impressive talent: "On a high from its award-winning, critical darlings 'Mad Men' and 'Breaking Bad,' AMC is remaking 'The Prisoner,' the TV cult classic from the 1960s. The original series, co-created  by Patrick McGoohan, was influenced by Cold War politics. The new version, produced by Trevor Hopkins ('Dracula'), reflects 21st Century issues, such as liberty, security and surveillance, while keeping the original's paranoid, tense tone. The six one-hour episodes begin with a man (Jim Caviezel of "The Thin Red Line") who resigns from his job and wakes up to find himself trapped in a mysterious and surreal place called The Village, with no memory of having arrived there. The Village residents are identified by number and have no memory of a previous existence.  The Village is controlled by 'Two' (Sir Ian McKellen) who is locked in a battle of wits with 'Six' (Caviezel) throughout the miniseries. Caviezel said he was initially interested in the role -- his first TV series -- because McKellen was a part of it, but then was taken with the entire project when he read the script. 'This blew everything out of the water that I was thinking about doing,' he said. McKellen said he watched some of the episodes of the original in reruns because he was busy doing theater when it first aired on TV in England in the 1970s, and reminded the TV press that there were no VCRs back then." [Los Angeles Times, Show Tracker blog] (Want to see some scenes from the classic series? Go to the bottom of this post...)

WE HAVE WAYS OF MAKING YOU TALK: The two-hour premiere of "24" is this Sunday on Fox and for a show that is famous for edge-of-your-seat action, there is plenty of armchair analysis about the political subtexts of the show. Take the review by television critic Alessandra Stanley on the cover of today's Arts section in the New York Times -- the piece mentions Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney before Jack Bauer's name even comes up. Stanley writes that sometimes the torn-from-today's headlines stuff can make for windy television: "Jack is summoned by subpoena all the way from Africa to a Senate hearing and scolded by a pompous senator about taking the law into his own hands. Undaunted, Jack fires back with a laconic blast of fresh-from-the-front-lines realism that echoes some of Mr. Cheney’s more recent statements on the subject. It’s not a coincidence. Torture and the moral debate that surrounds it have been a leitmotif on '24' for several seasons now. Last season in particular the show’s creators, Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, turned it into a cause célèbre, not just by depicting prolonged and gruesome scenes of torture but also by having characters voice their opinions about torture with labored, even cartoonish intensity.  Scenes like the Senate confrontation may be cathartic for conservatives upset that the Cheney doctrine is likely to be reversed by the new administration. (Mr. Obama’s choice to lead the C.I.A., Leon E. Panetta, has argued passionately against it.) But it’s kind of a buzz kill for fans of the show who eagerly wait for a new installment of torture, nuclear explosions, biochemical mass destruction and the latest nerdy computer surveillance techniques. In an action-adventure show, torture should be seen and not heard about. And that pedantic streak makes the first hour of the season premiere a little like being in a bar with a football superstar, eagerly awaiting tales of gridiron glory, only to have to listen to him drone on and on about the hypocrisy and injustice of steroid testing. Fortunately, and predictably, the Senate sanctimony is interrupted by an urgent threat to national security that only Jack Bauer can handle." [New York Times]

RORSCHACH TEST: Is the Doomsday clock ticking for "Watchmen"? Or is the legal squabble between two studios just posturing? We told you yesterday that producer Lloyd Levin vented in a public letter that took Fox to task for trying to make a buck on "Watchmen" and now John Horn, one of the savviest of the veteran reporters covering the film industry, has a summation of that letter and a tidy appraisal of the conflict to date: "Fox sued Warners in February, claiming the studio and 'Watchmen' producer Larry Gordon never obtained the necessary movie rights from Fox. U.S. District Judge Gary Feess ruled in Fox’s favor on Dec. 24, saying that Fox, not Warners, owns a copyright interest in 'Watchmen.' Fox, the judge said, controls at the very least the film’s distribution rights. Warners was set to release the $130-million film on March 6, but Feess will convene a mini-trial in the coming weeks to decide who gets to release the movie. Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Levin’s letter. Levin did not return a telephone message. Levin, an established producer with credits on 'United 93,' 'Hellboy' and 'Boogie Nights' among many others, recounts in his letter the film’s long and often troubled path to the screen. He says that Fox dismissed the film’s basic screenplay with an expletive. 'Conversely, Warner Brothers called us after having read the script and said they were interested in the movie — yes, they were unsure of the screenplay, and had many questions, but wanted to set a meeting to discuss the project, which they promptly did. Did anyone at Fox ask to meet on the movie? No. Did anyone at Fox express any interest in the movie? No. Express even the slightest interest in the movie? Or the graphic novel? No,' Levin writes." [Los Angeles Times] (NOTE:Check back today about 3 p.m., we'll have another story on the latest news in this studio conflict...)

MORE VAMPIRES?: I have nothing against the fanged undead but it's getting a bit much don't you think? We're obviously going to have the "Twilight" franchise in theaters for the next few years, then there's "True Blood" on HBO (of which I am a fan) and about a half-dozen other bloodsucker projects in recent months or on the horizon. Now, there's a ripple of a rumor that director Sam Raimi will put a vamp in "Spider-Man 4," namely Morbius the Living Vampire, who first popped up in the comics way back in 1971 and is fairly cool but less important in Spidey lore than the Vulture, Electro, the Lizard or Mysterio. Where are the rumors coming from? Raimi himself. He spoke to Empire Magazine and said this: "I like it in the Marvel comics when Spider-Man fights Morbius. He’s really cool. A vampire! I like that combination of superhero plus supernatural.” (That quote is not online yet at the Empire website, so I'm taking it second hand from Slashfilm's brief mention of it.) Now Raimi didn't exactly say he was out casting for a Morbius but that's how it's being presented in the breathless blogosphere. I'm guessing Lizard will be the next villain (or one of them), considering the careful set-up of his character in the previous Spidey films and also Raimi's love of the Steve Ditko-era villains.

ON THIS DATE: Speaking of Spidey, today is the birthday of actor J.K. Simmons, who is absolutely pitch-perfect as the flat-topped, abrasive J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of The Daily Bugle. Simmons, born 54 years ago today in Detroit, is currently a key part of the cast of "The Closer," and I especially enjoyed his nuanced work as Dr. Emil Skoda, one of the memorable recurring characters from "Law & Order." In honor of his birthday today, let's be righteously indignant and keep an eye on our kids who just might turn out to be werewolves.

Keep reading for that vintage footage from "The Prisoner"...

Our favorite television critic, Mary McNamara, has a sparkling and fan-inspiring review of Kiefer Sutherland's return to time-management in tonight's two-hour "24" movie. (This excerpt was carefully combed to remove any spoilers, it provides only brief images and the loosest of plot description):

As Season 6 pinballed to a close in spring 2007, even die-hard fans were complaining about repetitive story lines and worn-out love triangles. (Honestly, is there nothing worse than a worn-out love triangle?)

"Redemption," a bridge to next season, which begins Jan. 11, nukes those criticisms. With a narrative that is ambitious and gut-wrenching even by "24" standards, Jack finds himself in Sangala, Africa, which is on the verge of a military coup of the sort now only too recognizable. (Why he could not have fled to Paris is a question only Jack and his writers can answer.)

There is a psychotic general in a requisite psychotic-general beret, a brutal rebel army toting machine guns and machetes and a group of now agonizingly iconic child soldiers: boys kidnapped and psychologically bludgeoned to make them capable of slaughtering "the cockroaches."

She writes later in the review:

The seventh season may take place back in the States, but the prequel firmly establishes not only what is at stake here — the desperate lives of innocent men, women and children — but also the moral responsibility the United States continues to have in the world.

Still, for all its political ambitions, "24" remains the story of one man's journey, and Sutherland shrugs himself back into the role as if it were a well-worn flak jacket.

With his eyes full of anguish, soft-spoken ways and chin stubble gone golden under the African sun, Bauer has never looked so savior-like. (At one point he is tortured with his arms outstretched, as if on a cross, which may have been a bit over-the-top.) He is still more than capable of taking out an entire platoon with a few sticks of dynamite and a handgun, but clearly Jack Bauer walks the Earth to take on the world's sins, to thwart what he can, avenge what he cannot and suffer because he must.

Again, to read the rest, which is excellent, you can go right here.

— Geoff Boucher

Today's edition of Everyday Hero, your handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe ...

"Twilight" heartbreak: Remember the stories about the record labels that rejected the Beatles? Or how the makers of M&M's passed on product-placement opportunity in "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," allowing Reese's Pieces a dream opportunity? Now here's the tale of the Hollywood executive who thought that "Twilight" sounded like a lame idea for a movie, brought to you by blogger Patrick Goldstein: "Long before "Twilight" hit the bookstores in 2005, MTV Films chief David Gale had read the novel in manuscript form and optioned the movie rights. MTV was always looking for teen-friendly film properties and Gale felt the book had a great mix of genre elements -- notably the vampire angle -- and a surprisingly sweet take on teen romance. 'This is one of those projects we were especially passionate about,' says Gale, who now is an exec VP of new media at MTV. 'We put a writer [Mark Lord] on the project, who did a couple of drafts. We never got the script where we wanted it, but when it came time to renew the option, we needed Paramount's approval and, for whatever reasons, we couldn't get a commitment, so the project went into turnaround. I'm disappointed that we didn't end up making the picture, but I'm thrilled that someone saw it through and that it's turned out to be such a big event.' As is often the case when a studio lets a hit slip through its hands, no one wants to take the blame. Gale would not say who at [MTV parent] Paramount refused to renew the option. But I spoke to three ex-Paramount executives who all pointed the finger at Brad Weston, now the studio's production chief ... MTV executives who were involved with the project say Weston questioned the genre's commercial prospects, telling them to watch "Cursed," a 2005 teen-oriented werewolf film that he'd made while an executive at Dimension Films that had failed at the box office." Ouch! Cursed? Yeah, you got that right. [The Big Picture blog]

More "Twilight" (is there ever enough "Twilight" for you people?): Our very own Denise Martin continues her daily countdown to "Twilight" on our sister blog, Entertainment News & Buzz, and one of the latest postings is a great interview with "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer. Interesting tidbit in the post is how Meyer butted heads with Robert Pattinson on his version of the vampire Edward: "He’d sit there arguing with me telling me I’m wrong about this character. He thinks Edward is a lot more depressed than I do. He thinks Edward is on the point of suicide. I’m like, ‘No! He’s got his family that he loves. He‘s got Carlisle.’ And Rob would go (putting on a British accent), ‘Well, why does he like Carlisle so much? This man changed him into a vampire! What are you thinking?’ [Laughs] There were very intense conversations. But it was hysterical after the fact. I was worried though. I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s going to go in there and play Edward like Edward the Emo. Nooooooooo.’ But he didn’t! And it’s exactly what I wanted to see. It was crazy, but he got it. It’s on the screen and that’s all that matters." [Entertainment News & Buzz blog]

And MORE "Twilight": A photo gallery from the premiere in Westwood.

Bea Arthur and the wookies: I read the Los Angeles Times last Sunday and I was deeply jealous of a piece written by a  freelance writer named Donald Liebenson who apparently didn't get the memo that I am supposed to be the paper's go-to geek. The article that treads on my beloved turf is a wonderful history of the excruciatingly bad "Star Wars Holiday Special," which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The plot of "TSWHS" plays like a demented "SCTV" sketch: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Han Solo and Chewbacca are racing to Kashyyyk, Chewie's home planet, in time for them to be with Chewie's family for the annual Life Day celebration. Chewie's wife, Malla, his son, Lumpy, and his father, Itchy, anxiously await his arrival, while Imperial Stormtroopers, under direction from Darth Vader, exhibit very un-Life Day behavior, ransacking homes, imposing curfews and shutting down the cantina. But here's where it gets weird. Mixed in with all the principals from the original "Star Wars" movie are Bea Arthur singing a Brechtian tune in the cantina; Diahann Carroll entrancing Lumpy as his virtual reality fantasy; and Harvey Korman cooking up an alien Julia Child impersonation. This is what OMG looked like in 1978." Genius piece, be sure to read the whole thing. [Los Angeles Times] ... If you want to see a YouTube snippet of the show, you can find it at the end of this post.

My reaction? Meh: When it comes to new words in the dictionary, meh. Yes, that's right, "meh," the most overused fanboy expression consisting of three letters or less is now enjoying some newfound legitimacy. Here's an excerpt from the wire story: "The expression of indifference or boredom has gained a place in the Collins English Dictionary after generating a surprising amount of enthusiasm among lexicographers. Publisher HarperCollins announced Monday the word had been chosen from terms suggested by the public for inclusion in the dictionary's 30th anniversary edition, to be published next year. The origins of 'meh' are murky, but the term grew in popularity after being used in a 2001 episode of 'The Simpsons' in which Homer suggests a day trip to his children Bart and Lisa. 'They both just reply 'meh' and keep watching TV,' said Cormac McKeown, head of content at Collins Dictionaries. The dictionary defines 'meh' as an expression of indifference or boredom, or an adjective meaning mediocre or boring. Examples given by the dictionary include 'the Canadian election was so meh.' The dictionary's compilers said the word originated in North America, spread through the Internet and was now entering British spoken English." [Associated Press]

Jack Bauer, doing time: The new season of "24" begins on Nov. 24 and poor Kiefer Sutherland is going to have to recount his time in lock-up for every journalist who outs a microphone in front of him. Oh, look, here's one now, from the People website, which got an excerpt from an upcoming magazine interview not yet online: "'There's no smoking,' Sutherland, 41, tells Men's Vogue in its December/January issue, which hits newsstands Nov. 25. 'The lights never go out, 24/7. You can't cover anything. You can't even put your head under a blanket. All the cells have cameras in them.' Although Sutherland has resumed smoking, the knowledge that he could go 48 days without his Camels is a comforting thought. 'My drinking was not a daily thing, so it wasn't an issue. And, oddly enough, neither was the smoking,'" he tells the magazine, adding, "I was very glad to know that I could quit. And one day soon I will." One thing that didn't work out, he says, was the roommate situation. 'I was told, you know, 'You'll have your own cell.' But I didn't for the first two or three weeks; I had a cell mate,' he says. 'He got out –- but not for long. He came back in pretty quick.'" Here's hoping that Sutherland, who did seven weeks for a DUI charge, doesn't run into that roomie again. [People]

-- Geoff Boucher

"Twilight" photo courtesy of Summit Pictures. "The Simpsons" image courtesy of Fox. "Star Wars Holiday Special" image from vintage Lucasfilm press materials.

Jack Bauer is back

Our favorite television critic, Mary McNamara, has a sparkling and fan-inspiring review of Kiefer Sutherland's return to time-management in tonight's two-hour "24" movie. (This excerpt was carefully combed to remove any spoilers, it provides only brief images and the loosest of plot description):

As Season 6 pinballed to a close in spring 2007, even die-hard fans were complaining about repetitive story lines and worn-out love triangles. (Honestly, is there nothing worse than a worn-out love triangle?)

"Redemption," a bridge to next season, which begins Jan. 11, nukes those criticisms. With a narrative that is ambitious and gut-wrenching even by "24" standards, Jack finds himself in Sangala, Africa, which is on the verge of a military coup of the sort now only too recognizable. (Why he could not have fled to Paris is a question only Jack and his writers can answer.)

There is a psychotic general in a requisite psychotic-general beret, a brutal rebel army toting machine guns and machetes and a group of now agonizingly iconic child soldiers: boys kidnapped and psychologically bludgeoned to make them capable of slaughtering "the cockroaches."

She writes later in the review:

The seventh season may take place back in the States, but the prequel firmly establishes not only what is at stake here — the desperate lives of innocent men, women and children — but also the moral responsibility the United States continues to have in the world.

Still, for all its political ambitions, "24" remains the story of one man's journey, and Sutherland shrugs himself back into the role as if it were a well-worn flak jacket.

With his eyes full of anguish, soft-spoken ways and chin stubble gone golden under the African sun, Bauer has never looked so savior-like. (At one point he is tortured with his arms outstretched, as if on a cross, which may have been a bit over-the-top.) He is still more than capable of taking out an entire platoon with a few sticks of dynamite and a handgun, but clearly Jack Bauer walks the Earth to take on the world's sins, to thwart what he can, avenge what he cannot and suffer because he must.

Again, to read the rest, which is excellent, you can go right here.

— Geoff Boucher

Today's edition of Everyday Hero, your handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe ...

"Twilight" heartbreak: Remember the stories about the record labels that rejected the Beatles? Or how the makers of M&M's passed on product-placement opportunity in "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," allowing Reese's Pieces a dream opportunity? Now here's the tale of the Hollywood executive who thought that "Twilight" sounded like a lame idea for a movie, brought to you by blogger Patrick Goldstein: "Long before "Twilight" hit the bookstores in 2005, MTV Films chief David Gale had read the novel in manuscript form and optioned the movie rights. MTV was always looking for teen-friendly film properties and Gale felt the book had a great mix of genre elements -- notably the vampire angle -- and a surprisingly sweet take on teen romance. 'This is one of those projects we were especially passionate about,' says Gale, who now is an exec VP of new media at MTV. 'We put a writer [Mark Lord] on the project, who did a couple of drafts. We never got the script where we wanted it, but when it came time to renew the option, we needed Paramount's approval and, for whatever reasons, we couldn't get a commitment, so the project went into turnaround. I'm disappointed that we didn't end up making the picture, but I'm thrilled that someone saw it through and that it's turned out to be such a big event.' As is often the case when a studio lets a hit slip through its hands, no one wants to take the blame. Gale would not say who at [MTV parent] Paramount refused to renew the option. But I spoke to three ex-Paramount executives who all pointed the finger at Brad Weston, now the studio's production chief ... MTV executives who were involved with the project say Weston questioned the genre's commercial prospects, telling them to watch "Cursed," a 2005 teen-oriented werewolf film that he'd made while an executive at Dimension Films that had failed at the box office." Ouch! Cursed? Yeah, you got that right. [The Big Picture blog]

More "Twilight" (is there ever enough "Twilight" for you people?): Our very own Denise Martin continues her daily countdown to "Twilight" on our sister blog, Entertainment News & Buzz, and one of the latest postings is a great interview with "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer. Interesting tidbit in the post is how Meyer butted heads with Robert Pattinson on his version of the vampire Edward: "He’d sit there arguing with me telling me I’m wrong about this character. He thinks Edward is a lot more depressed than I do. He thinks Edward is on the point of suicide. I’m like, ‘No! He’s got his family that he loves. He‘s got Carlisle.’ And Rob would go (putting on a British accent), ‘Well, why does he like Carlisle so much? This man changed him into a vampire! What are you thinking?’ [Laughs] There were very intense conversations. But it was hysterical after the fact. I was worried though. I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s going to go in there and play Edward like Edward the Emo. Nooooooooo.’ But he didn’t! And it’s exactly what I wanted to see. It was crazy, but he got it. It’s on the screen and that’s all that matters." [Entertainment News & Buzz blog]

And MORE "Twilight": A photo gallery from the premiere in Westwood.

Bea Arthur and the wookies: I read the Los Angeles Times last Sunday and I was deeply jealous of a piece written by a  freelance writer named Donald Liebenson who apparently didn't get the memo that I am supposed to be the paper's go-to geek. The article that treads on my beloved turf is a wonderful history of the excruciatingly bad "Star Wars Holiday Special," which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The plot of "TSWHS" plays like a demented "SCTV" sketch: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Han Solo and Chewbacca are racing to Kashyyyk, Chewie's home planet, in time for them to be with Chewie's family for the annual Life Day celebration. Chewie's wife, Malla, his son, Lumpy, and his father, Itchy, anxiously await his arrival, while Imperial Stormtroopers, under direction from Darth Vader, exhibit very un-Life Day behavior, ransacking homes, imposing curfews and shutting down the cantina. But here's where it gets weird. Mixed in with all the principals from the original "Star Wars" movie are Bea Arthur singing a Brechtian tune in the cantina; Diahann Carroll entrancing Lumpy as his virtual reality fantasy; and Harvey Korman cooking up an alien Julia Child impersonation. This is what OMG looked like in 1978." Genius piece, be sure to read the whole thing. [Los Angeles Times] ... If you want to see a YouTube snippet of the show, you can find it at the end of this post.

My reaction? Meh: When it comes to new words in the dictionary, meh. Yes, that's right, "meh," the most overused fanboy expression consisting of three letters or less is now enjoying some newfound legitimacy. Here's an excerpt from the wire story: "The expression of indifference or boredom has gained a place in the Collins English Dictionary after generating a surprising amount of enthusiasm among lexicographers. Publisher HarperCollins announced Monday the word had been chosen from terms suggested by the public for inclusion in the dictionary's 30th anniversary edition, to be published next year. The origins of 'meh' are murky, but the term grew in popularity after being used in a 2001 episode of 'The Simpsons' in which Homer suggests a day trip to his children Bart and Lisa. 'They both just reply 'meh' and keep watching TV,' said Cormac McKeown, head of content at Collins Dictionaries. The dictionary defines 'meh' as an expression of indifference or boredom, or an adjective meaning mediocre or boring. Examples given by the dictionary include 'the Canadian election was so meh.' The dictionary's compilers said the word originated in North America, spread through the Internet and was now entering British spoken English." [Associated Press]

Jack Bauer, doing time: The new season of "24" begins on Nov. 24 and poor Kiefer Sutherland is going to have to recount his time in lock-up for every journalist who outs a microphone in front of him. Oh, look, here's one now, from the People website, which got an excerpt from an upcoming magazine interview not yet online: "'There's no smoking,' Sutherland, 41, tells Men's Vogue in its December/January issue, which hits newsstands Nov. 25. 'The lights never go out, 24/7. You can't cover anything. You can't even put your head under a blanket. All the cells have cameras in them.' Although Sutherland has resumed smoking, the knowledge that he could go 48 days without his Camels is a comforting thought. 'My drinking was not a daily thing, so it wasn't an issue. And, oddly enough, neither was the smoking,'" he tells the magazine, adding, "I was very glad to know that I could quit. And one day soon I will." One thing that didn't work out, he says, was the roommate situation. 'I was told, you know, 'You'll have your own cell.' But I didn't for the first two or three weeks; I had a cell mate,' he says. 'He got out –- but not for long. He came back in pretty quick.'" Here's hoping that Sutherland, who did seven weeks for a DUI charge, doesn't run into that roomie again. [People]

-- Geoff Boucher

"Twilight" photo courtesy of Summit Pictures. "The Simpsons" image courtesy of Fox. "Star Wars Holiday Special" image from vintage Lucasfilm press materials.

'Twilight', Kiefer Sutherland and the 'Star Wars Holiday Special' all in Everyday Hero headlines

Today's edition of Everyday Hero, your handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe ...

"Twilight" heartbreak: Remember the stories about the record labels that rejected the Beatles? Or how the makers of M&M's passed on product-placement opportunity in "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," allowing Reese's Pieces a dream opportunity? Now here's the tale of the Hollywood executive who thought that "Twilight" sounded like a lame idea for a movie, brought to you by blogger Patrick Goldstein: "Long before "Twilight" hit the bookstores in 2005, MTV Films chief David Gale had read the novel in manuscript form and optioned the movie rights. MTV was always looking for teen-friendly film properties and Gale felt the book had a great mix of genre elements -- notably the vampire angle -- and a surprisingly sweet take on teen romance. 'This is one of those projects we were especially passionate about,' says Gale, who now is an exec VP of new media at MTV. 'We put a writer [Mark Lord] on the project, who did a couple of drafts. We never got the script where we wanted it, but when it came time to renew the option, we needed Paramount's approval and, for whatever reasons, we couldn't get a commitment, so the project went into turnaround. I'm disappointed that we didn't end up making the picture, but I'm thrilled that someone saw it through and that it's turned out to be such a big event.' As is often the case when a studio lets a hit slip through its hands, no one wants to take the blame. Gale would not say who at [MTV parent] Paramount refused to renew the option. But I spoke to three ex-Paramount executives who all pointed the finger at Brad Weston, now the studio's production chief ... MTV executives who were involved with the project say Weston questioned the genre's commercial prospects, telling them to watch "Cursed," a 2005 teen-oriented werewolf film that he'd made while an executive at Dimension Films that had failed at the box office." Ouch! Cursed? Yeah, you got that right. [The Big Picture blog]

More "Twilight" (is there ever enough "Twilight" for you people?): Our very own Denise Martin continues her daily countdown to "Twilight" on our sister blog, Entertainment News & Buzz, and one of the latest postings is a great interview with "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer. Interesting tidbit in the post is how Meyer butted heads with Robert Pattinson on his version of the vampire Edward: "He’d sit there arguing with me telling me I’m wrong about this character. He thinks Edward is a lot more depressed than I do. He thinks Edward is on the point of suicide. I’m like, ‘No! He’s got his family that he loves. He‘s got Carlisle.’ And Rob would go (putting on a British accent), ‘Well, why does he like Carlisle so much? This man changed him into a vampire! What are you thinking?’ [Laughs] There were very intense conversations. But it was hysterical after the fact. I was worried though. I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s going to go in there and play Edward like Edward the Emo. Nooooooooo.’ But he didn’t! And it’s exactly what I wanted to see. It was crazy, but he got it. It’s on the screen and that’s all that matters." [Entertainment News & Buzz blog]

And MORE "Twilight": A photo gallery from the premiere in Westwood.

Bea Arthur and the wookies: I read the Los Angeles Times last Sunday and I was deeply jealous of a piece written by a  freelance writer named Donald Liebenson who apparently didn't get the memo that I am supposed to be the paper's go-to geek. The article that treads on my beloved turf is a wonderful history of the excruciatingly bad "Star Wars Holiday Special," which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The plot of "TSWHS" plays like a demented "SCTV" sketch: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Han Solo and Chewbacca are racing to Kashyyyk, Chewie's home planet, in time for them to be with Chewie's family for the annual Life Day celebration. Chewie's wife, Malla, his son, Lumpy, and his father, Itchy, anxiously await his arrival, while Imperial Stormtroopers, under direction from Darth Vader, exhibit very un-Life Day behavior, ransacking homes, imposing curfews and shutting down the cantina. But here's where it gets weird. Mixed in with all the principals from the original "Star Wars" movie are Bea Arthur singing a Brechtian tune in the cantina; Diahann Carroll entrancing Lumpy as his virtual reality fantasy; and Harvey Korman cooking up an alien Julia Child impersonation. This is what OMG looked like in 1978." Genius piece, be sure to read the whole thing. [Los Angeles Times] ... If you want to see a YouTube snippet of the show, you can find it at the end of this post.

My reaction? Meh: When it comes to new words in the dictionary, meh. Yes, that's right, "meh," the most overused fanboy expression consisting of three letters or less is now enjoying some newfound legitimacy. Here's an excerpt from the wire story: "The expression of indifference or boredom has gained a place in the Collins English Dictionary after generating a surprising amount of enthusiasm among lexicographers. Publisher HarperCollins announced Monday the word had been chosen from terms suggested by the public for inclusion in the dictionary's 30th anniversary edition, to be published next year. The origins of 'meh' are murky, but the term grew in popularity after being used in a 2001 episode of 'The Simpsons' in which Homer suggests a day trip to his children Bart and Lisa. 'They both just reply 'meh' and keep watching TV,' said Cormac McKeown, head of content at Collins Dictionaries. The dictionary defines 'meh' as an expression of indifference or boredom, or an adjective meaning mediocre or boring. Examples given by the dictionary include 'the Canadian election was so meh.' The dictionary's compilers said the word originated in North America, spread through the Internet and was now entering British spoken English." [Associated Press]

Jack Bauer, doing time: The new season of "24" begins on Nov. 24 and poor Kiefer Sutherland is going to have to recount his time in lock-up for every journalist who outs a microphone in front of him. Oh, look, here's one now, from the People website, which got an excerpt from an upcoming magazine interview not yet online: "'There's no smoking,' Sutherland, 41, tells Men's Vogue in its December/January issue, which hits newsstands Nov. 25. 'The lights never go out, 24/7. You can't cover anything. You can't even put your head under a blanket. All the cells have cameras in them.' Although Sutherland has resumed smoking, the knowledge that he could go 48 days without his Camels is a comforting thought. 'My drinking was not a daily thing, so it wasn't an issue. And, oddly enough, neither was the smoking,'" he tells the magazine, adding, "I was very glad to know that I could quit. And one day soon I will." One thing that didn't work out, he says, was the roommate situation. 'I was told, you know, 'You'll have your own cell.' But I didn't for the first two or three weeks; I had a cell mate,' he says. 'He got out –- but not for long. He came back in pretty quick.'" Here's hoping that Sutherland, who did seven weeks for a DUI charge, doesn't run into that roomie again. [People]

-- Geoff Boucher

"Twilight" photo courtesy of Summit Pictures. "The Simpsons" image courtesy of Fox. "Star Wars Holiday Special" image from vintage Lucasfilm press materials.